Yukie's Island: My Family's World War II Story

 

Yukie’s Island: My Family’s World War II Story by Yukie Kimura, Kōdo Kimura, and Steve Sheinkin and illustrated by Kōdo Kimura is a Japanese child’s perspective on World II. Yukie was a schoolgirl when her family lived on a small island where her father worked as a lighthouse keeper. Her life in many ways was easy and carefree until the war came closer. This is a story which would be great for showing history students the real life experiences of individuals during World War II. Based on a true story, there are three pages of notes at the end from the authors, which was just as interesting as the main text.

The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli

The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser is a book that I enjoyed. Han Yu is a young man who lives in China in 731, while Luli Lee lives in Chinatown, New York in 1931. Both have families with big challenges.  Han Yu’s family community is affected by illness and he wants to help his sister.  Luli’s family is suffering financially because of the stock market crash.  Though more than one thousand years separate them, Glaser does a great job showing the parallels of their stories. Chapters alternate between the two characters, so it easy enough to keep the stories straight.  If I had time for a chapter book read aloud with my students or nieces and nephews, I would read this to someone. Glaser also wrote A Duet for Home, which I also highly recommend. 

The World Entire

 

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat in Europe at the time of World War II. When people were clamoring to leave France, he signed papers so thousands could flee despite going against the Portuguese government's edict.  An amazing story of sacrifice that I think should be read by all adults and teenagers.   

M is for Mason Jar

M is for Mason Jar by Carolyn Bennet Fraiser and illustrated by Sally Garland is my new favorite alphabet book.  Each letter represents something from rural living.  The illustrations are done well, and I appreciate the alliteration the author used for each letter's sentence.  Though it is an picture book, most adults who garden, farm, and/or cook much of their own food would enjoy reading this book. 

land of plenty

Here are the zucchini and cucumbers that I harvested today.  Good thing I only have one zucchini plant.

literary Ireland

Here are some literary things that I came across while in Ireland.

The stairs to one branch of the Dublin Library. Why not advertise books on your stairs? This branch happened to be on the second floor of a shopping center.

This was at a ceramic exhibit at the National Botanic Gardens. Cathy Dineen put a short story on her ceramic tiles.

At the Chester Beatty Museum, there were a lot of old pages from ancient books.  This is some Scripture from the third century.

A poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins hanging in a garden in Carlow. My garden might need a sign like this, too.

This is a machine that prints out a story, poem or comic on demand (see Short Edition website). The comic I got was about neighborhood cats.

There was Red Bookshop in Wexford.  Every room in the store was this packed.

In Dublin, the National Library had an exhibition about poet Seamus Heaney. These are some of his notebooks with his poetry.